For Immediate Release
Contact: Kate Karasmeighan
202-234-9181
kkarasmeighan@nglcc.org
NGLCC Encourages Congress to Pass Healthcare Pooling Legislation
August 12, 2008 (Washington, D.C.) Today, the leadership of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) sent letters to Congress supporting legislation introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate that would allow small businesses to “pool” their employees in an effort to reduce the cost of offering health benefits to employees and their families and increase the availability of affordable healthcare.
“Health insurance costs for small companies have risen 129 percent over the last eight years, with the United States’ smallest firms paying an average of 18 percent more in premiums for the same benefits as those in the largest firms,” said NGLCC co-founder and President Justin Nelson. “That is a major hurdle for small businesses, especially in a tightening economy.” Nelson noted that passing healthcare reform legislation that allows pooling would be a significant boost to small businesses, many of which are LGBT-owned, and would address one of the NGLCC’s top legislative priorities.
The Small Business Cooperative for Healthcare Options to Improve Coverage for Employees Act of 2008 (H.R. 6582), also called CHOICE, allows for businesses to pool their numbers within states. However the Senate version - the Small Business Health Options Program Act of 2008 (S. 2795), also called SHOP - would allow businesses to pool their numbers nationwide, as well as offer tax credits and incentives to business owners and sole proprietors.
“We expect that this legislation, including the tax credit provided to small business owners who pay 60 percent of their employees premiums and to those entrepreneurs who are self-employed, will help bolster the small business engine that is an integral part of the United States economy,” said NGLCC co-founder and CEO Chance Mitchell.
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About the NGLCC:
The NGLCC is the business advocate and direct link between LGBT business owners, corporations and government. As the umbrella organization for 47 state and local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) chambers of commerce and business organizations, the NGLCC represents the interests of the more than 1.4 million LGBT owned businesses in the United States.
